Latest Blog Posts

by PopMatters Staff

Steve Horowitz: The sound of the future as brought to you by THE PAST—zoom, Elroy you’re all grown up! The vocals aren’t sung as much as mumbled clearly because even hearing the words makes one think one can’t understand them because they don’t fit together. And it is all fun. This is a love song and does a good job of capturing the silly, mixed up feeling. The distortions and effects reinforce the feelings of insecurity of needing someone else. In addition the video images: the purple pants, cool car, and desert scenery do the two performers justice as it makes their pretensions nerdy and human. [8/10]

by PopMatters Staff

Oakland’s Zion I is back with another great album of conscious hip-hop. The Labyrinth released back on October 27th via Mind Over Matter Records and features production turns from Ariano, Mikos the Gawd, Teeko and Decap as well as guest appearances from Deuce Eclipse and Codnay Holiday. The Labyrinth addresses the current state of Black America and ever-persistent racism that’s becoming more toxic and prevalent with every police shooting of a black man and every hate comment from the growing alt-right.

by PopMatters Staff

Nashville singer-songwriters Brigitte DeMeyer and Will Kimbrough have worked together for years and became best friends in the process. Now, the duo is set to release their first album as an official duo. Mockingbird Soul, releasing January 27th, is an Americana album through and through as it brings in all the great roots genres that populate Americana, including blues, country, early jazz, gospel, folk and bluegrass. DeMeyer thinks of their sound as acoustic soul and that’s a fabulous description as you can here on their new single “Rainy Day”, a genuinely soulful number that has us eagerly awaiting the album’s release.

by PopMatters Staff

In his review of St. Lenox‘s new album, John Paul said, “St. Lenox represents that singular voice, at once very much of its time and utterly timeless in its thematic universality. Ten Hymns from My American Gothic is nothing short of a 21st century pop masterpiece.” St. Lenox (Andrew Choi) is a master of melody with an uncanny ease at crafting super catchy pop songs that never leave your head. His new single “You Don’t Call Me Anymore” exemplifies this as the jangle pop tune is utterly irresistible. For the video, Choi enlisted New York performance artist Matthew Silver who is well-known amongst the public spaces of the city. Silver injects humor into the proceedings in a way that’ll delight and make you smile in these scary and tumultuous times. Meanwhile, Choi’s music will lighten your day with its jangly upbeat tones and to-die-for hooks.

by PopMatters Staff

London’s SAMA play a soulful form of electropop loaded to the brim with great hooks. “What Love Is All About” is the band’s latest single and it should nestle comfortably next Rudimental and Penguin Prison within your collection. “Sama” means “listening” in both Arabic and Farsi, but it also references a spiritual journey wherein one finds love and truth. We could sure use a little of both in these troubled times.